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416 sats \ 4 comments \ @cryotosensei 1 Nov the_stacker_muse

Happiness Journal 1/11/25

During my work review last year, I happened to mention my staunch belief in 死背 (rote memorisation). In a rare moment of vulnerability, my Reporting Officer shed her professional demeanour and cautioned me against using a term that carries negative connotations. No chance would I be earmarked for higher positions if I keep spouting such beliefs.

Ironically, one year later, I’m feeding off the adrenaline from getting my 11-year-olds to memorise their composition ending. They had just finished their year-end exams, and while I’m colossally proud of their efforts, their writing has accelerated me into PANIC! FIGHT! mode. Some of their essays were so heartbreakingly amateurish and riddled with errors that I could have wept.

But Sensei is not overwhelmed.

I spent this week teaching them to memorise my curated conclusion:

In the end, I learnt an important lesson. [Insert a proverb.] I resolved to [concentrate in class] instead of [playing the fool] in the future.

You might think that getting students to regurgitate is a piece of cake. No, it requires intentional effort on my part. I parked one girl at the front to read aloud my conclusion while going around the classroom to check that everyone knew how to spell certain words.

Important. Resolved. Future.

This is the stark reality of a classroom teacher teaching a class of students with diverse abilities and needs. To help the weakest ones, he needs to ensure that they know their spelling. His only hope is to lift the tide and raise their baseline level so that the strongest ones can access more sophisticated forms of writing.

Luckily though, a brainwave hit me this morning. I could elevate my juvenile line to:

In the end, I learnt an invaluable and important lesson.

The weakest ones have 9 months to learn and internalise the spelling of ‘invaluable’. Everyone will score brownie points for knowing how to use ‘invaluable’.

AL1 Conclusion FTW! Slay!

Which explains why I am feeling this rush of adrenaline course through my veins. Even if the odds are stacked against them (and Sensei), he tries valiantly to help them prevail over the seemingly insurmountable obstacles.

Honestly, my steadfast belief in 死背 has been deepened this year.

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83 sats \ 1 reply \ @Scoresby 1 Nov

I probably have less conviction in 死背 than you, but I certainly see it's place: multiplication tables are one good example. Handwriting and typing are another (I don't know if you consider typing memorization, but I do). Why do you think it has such a bad reputation?

102 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 2 Nov

I think anything that requires muscle/procedural memory is a form of memorisation, so I consider touch typing as memorisation. Just that typing words over and over again doesn’t feel as icky morally as teaching to the test?

I think in this day and age where 21st century competencies are so hyped upon and employers declare how the young are lacking in critical and adaptive thinking (which I agree), rote learning gets a bad rep because you are asking kids to passively accept and absorb without understanding. There are different ways to write a conclusion, so by right, I should train them in the various ways and get them to think about which way is ideal for which topic.

Actually, I did so before their exam. Came up with a mnemonic Hand Foot Mouth Disease (Hope Feeling Memory Decision) so that they could have control of the way they write their conclusion. But well, weak writers can’t write under stressful exam conditions. Sensei has to do right by the kids first n foremost - get them to pass.

72 sats \ 1 reply \ @billytheked 1 Nov

invaluable

I always thought this is a kind of funny word.

in = not (e.g. inexhaustible, inexpensive, insane) valuable = highly valued invaluable = of great value ?

Rote learning is discouraged in the West too. But for some things (like the case of article usage, as you mentioned earlier) we have no choice, since they seemingly defy reason.

It always feels good getting external in something a peer or even authority told you wouldn't work. I hope this turns out true in this case.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei OP 2 Nov

Actually, in your example, we use the determiner the because the conversational interlocutors are aware of the particular school/gym that is being referred to. Hence, the definite article is necessary. I’m sure those examples can be explained better by someone who hasn’t forgotten his linguistics (specifically conversational maxims) in school.

Well it will turn out to be true because Sensei is nothing but persistent if he decides on something. Locked in!